


Time Capsule

by lavii_is_trash



Category: To The Moon (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Sadish, prompt, time capsule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 13:45:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13765398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavii_is_trash/pseuds/lavii_is_trash
Summary: Another TTM Discord prompt I wrote a while ago.Sometimes a place can hold memories, make you feel young and free again.Sometimes a thing makes you feel small and miserable again.And sometimes you see how you have grown.





	Time Capsule

 

* * *

_Sometimes we have to bury the bad memories and only reopen then when we are ready for them._

* * *

 

It always seemed impossible that she would remember it in 20 years, but instead, Eva gets a little more nervous on every day that passes and lets the date come closer.

Will Neil still remember?

Even though she thinks about what they did and swore, Eva tries not to think about that time.  
At least not the many, many bad parts.  
It's rather hard.

Right now, though, she has a stack of paperwork to finish and three days until the day will finally come. Three days until a hard throwback.

Eva has to admit, she isn't sure what she put into it 20 years ago.

Gulping she thinks to herself:  
This is gonna be hard.

The days pass, with the date always at the back of her mind. The exact place and the exact time.

Eva knocks on Neil's door, after the end of their shift.

"Neil?"

She opens the door slowly.

Neil doesn't seem to mind and keeps typing away on his computer, probably working on some stupid game.  
Some voice in her head tells her to rather not remind him.  
Eva ignores it.

Slowly the brunette makes her way to his desk and sits down on it.

"I still remember."

Eva clears her throat and looks at her dangling feet.

"Good."

Carefully she glances over her shoulder at him.

"Don't be late."

Neil stops typing for a second and then starts again.

"I won't."

Gracefully she pushes herself off his table.

"You better be."

With those words she leaves his office, not looking back.

 

***

 

Eva still remembers the way to their place perfectly. She couldn't ever forget it.  
It's the first time she came here with a car, so she has to park it on the closest parking ground.  
Eva doesn't see Neil's car though.

The winding path between the trees still feels same. Of course, the trees grew, so did plants and similar but the dirt path was still there, not that thick anymore but it's still there.

Like Eva used to do, she stretches out her arm to let her hand slide along the familiar trees.  
Feel their unique pattern.  
It's hard not to fall into nostalgic thoughts of her in the age of 14, taking the same path to meet up with Neil, to do pretty much nothing. To unwind and ignore the world. To stop hurting.

Eva reaches the familiar clearing with the big tree, with the old tree house on it, in the middle.  
Small flowers sprinkle the grass with a little color.  
The ladder once hanging down the big tree is gone but the old treehouse is still there, molding and disappearing into nature.

A nostalgic calm overcomes her in this place, this peaceful, calm place.  
In this place exist no responsibilities, no families, no problems and no pain.  
Just calm and peace and the birds chirping in the distance.

Suddenly it rustles behind her and a familiar face joins her on the clearing.

"Wow...this place almost hasn't changed at all."

Neil looks around in wonder.

"It's like...time stopped..."

"Yeah...I quite like it."

Neil flashes a grin at her.

"Me too."

Eva turns to her colleague and friend.  
Has he changed in the last twenty years?  
In some parts yeah. Like the change that every teenager goes through.  
But in character, there is still a lot of the old Neil in him; closed off and secretive. Still untrusting and paranoid.

"We have time. Let's...sit down."

The glassed man rolls his eyes behind his glasses. (She can tell. She can always tell.)

The pair leans their backs against the big tree.

Just now she notices the shovel he brought with him, leaning against the tree.  
Eva closes her eyes and finally lets her past catch up with her. It would catch up with her at some point anyway.

Eva tries to tap back into the feeling of her 14-year-old self.  
Of the pain of that year, the struggles and all the times she tried to get away from everything in this place.

She can vividly remember how the year started; horrible.  
Her mother lost her unborn baby. A boy. His name was supposed to be Ayden.  
She never got over it. So did Eva's father.  
Eva remembers how she would hide in her room, under her blanket and try to shield her ears from the yelling of her parents, try to ignore the absence of her big sister, Traci. Just try to ignore it all in those moments.  
In the end, her father left. Never came back and frankly, Eva never saw him again after that.

As Neil rustles next to her, she looks at him. He seems to be in the same procedure of diving back into that horrible year.  
Of course, she doesn't exactly know what happens or how it felt but she knows that his grandfather died that year.

"Let's...let's start."

Eva just nods and gets up, giving Neil a hand, which he takes.

Ten steps straight from the ladder or where it would have been then 4 to the left.  
There would be the x. But of course it's not there, instead, Neil starts digging.

It doesn't take too long until they fish out the big pickle glass, filled with a cloth bag.  
In that cloth bag are their worst memories from that year. In the form of three mementos.

Eva isn't sure what those mementos exactly were but she will know soon.

The two of them sit back at their spot against the tree.

"I-I'll open it. As soon as you're ready."

Neil nods and stares at the glass in her dark hands.

"God, I can't believe we actually did that. Swore to a thing 20 years ago and...just do it."

Eva grimaces at him.

He takes a deep breath.

"Geronimo."

Eva takes a deep breath now and starts to open the metal lid of the glass.

It comes off rather easily.  
Eva takes out the white cloth back carefully as if it could burn her, hurt her badly.

"Who starts?"

"Lady's first."

Slowly she opens the white cloth and picks out her bundle. It's bound together with a thin rope.

With a gulp, she opens the neat bow of the package.

20 years ago they decided to put in three objects.

The first one she takes out is a small rock, that fits into her Palm. It's rather darkly colored.  
Eva can clearly remember this damned rock.

She remembers how she ran out of school as one of her schoolmates threw it after her and hit her hard on her head. Eva had a mild concussion afterward.

She got bullied a lot that year.

Carefully, Eva balances the rock on her lap.

"I still hate each and every one of those bastards of that school."

A sad smile flashes across her face.

Neil returns it before it vanishes from their faces.

Eva takes out her second item. A blue velvet box.  
In it is a silver necklace with a biologically formed heart pendant. It has black scorch marks.

Her father gave it to her, two days before her birthday. Then he left.  
Eva hated it so much. Not because it wasn't pretty because her father made her so angry. Always yelling at her, pushing her and hurting her.  
And then he just left.

Drifting away she stares into the velvet box. Eva closes it with a klack.

The last item is a folded piece of paper.

Eva unfolds it hesitantly.

It's the ultrasonic scan of her baby brother, that her mother lost.

A quiet sob escapes her. An unlived life is the worst. Ending before it even begins. Never even having a chance.

A warm hand curls around the one holding the piece of paper.  
Neil squeezes it.

She looks up at her friend with a tear in her eye.

"I'm still sorry."

With a shaky breath, she puts the last item down and hands the cloth to Neil.

"No turning back now."

He opens his not so neat bow of the thin rope.

The first item he pulls out is a folded picture.  
As he unfolds it, it shows a kid drawing of three figures.  
An old man, holding a boys hand, who is holding a girls hand.  
Over it is childishly written  
"My Family."

Neil stares at it hard. Like it's physically straining him, he puts it down, next to him.

Eva decides to take his hand. It's all she can do.

The next item is a broken pair of glasses. Neil's old glasses.

Eva isn't sure how they broke. Not in school that she is sure of.

Carefully he rubs his free thumb over the cracks and puts it down next to him.

The last thing in the package is a clock in a glass-velvet box.  
It looks very old and fancy.

"Grandpa..."

Within the box is a little, folded piece of paper. Neil doesn't open it though and puts it to the two other mementos.

Tightly he squeezes her hand.

"Wow...this...this is hard."

"Yeah."

Eva looks at him directly.

"Do you...do you think we did good? Moved on? At least partially? Would our past selves be proud of us?"

Neil gulps and squeezes her hand again.

"Maybe."

As if she was exhausted she rests her head against his shoulder and Neil's arm winds up over her shoulder.  
They normally never are this open with each other.

But this place is special.

"Someday...someday they will be proud."

**Author's Note:**

> This prompt is a little longer than the last prompt but I hope you liked it anyway!
> 
> I have one project ready but still unedited and another one in the works!
> 
> Thanks for reading x


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